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Putting a Price on Infection

Pennsylvania was one of first states to require hospitals to publicly disclose infection rates and to detail data on
individual hospitals. Now they are starting ...

January 22, 2009

Pennsylvania was one of first states to require hospitals to publicly disclose infection rates and to detail data on
individual hospitals. Now they are starting to see the results of that policy. A study by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment
Council spells out just how much is at stake with hospital-acquired infections--in lives and well being of course but
also in dollars and cents.

The study found that, with new policies in place, the infection rate dropped from 19.2 per thousand in 2006 to 17.7 per thousand in 2007. The average bill for patients that contract a hospital-acquired infection during their hospital care is more than five
times the bill for someone who gets out of the hospital infection-free.

Patients who do acquire such infections are six times more likely to die. And all that can be reduced just by holding hospitals publicly accountable.

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